• Where is Petra located?

Petra is located deep within the deserts of Jordan at the crossroads of the orient and roman civilization.
  • Who were its inhabitants?

Its inhabitants are said to have been arabian nomads called the Nabataeans.
  • What is/are its characteristics? (name as many as you can)

Petra was at a crossroad, therefor it was in constant visit by camel caravans loaded with lots of merchandise.
The ruins of Petra were carved in the sandstone cliffs.
Petras architecture was sprawled along windig gullies and steep cliffs.
It posseses many tombs and entrances that were carved down to display their culture

  • How important were tombs in Petra? What did they mean?

The tombs were important due to the fact that it served to display its culture aside from honoring the people that laid dead there.
Aside from having the intentions of honoring the Nabataeans forefathers the tombs where created with such elaborate facades becouse the rich families wanted to expres their wealth to their people and to other cultures.

  • How did this city become an urban center?

The city flourished becouse of the huge amount of comerce it had thanks to the camel caravans that went past it, after the roman ocupation of Nabataea, the city became more urbanized; aside from all that it was so rich in arqeological material that cientists went there to investigate more often and; eventually more and more tourists came making it what it is now.
  • How was this city organized/planned?

At firts it was merely a tent encampment but after the roman came, the city began its process of urbanizing.
It was quite laboreus but at the end the constructors managed to rise the city by the contours of the landscape; later they created a road that went along the market place and made a grid in the sprawling settlement; and that is how petra came to be.
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